Athena The Brain
Athena The Brain is the first book of the Goddess Girls series, released on April 6, 2010. The main protagonist is Athena, who finds out that she is a goddess. Along with meeting her friends, Aphrodite, Persephone, and Artemis, she has to deal with a mean classmate, Medusa. The book mentions three tales in Greek Mythology: the story of the gorgon Medusa, the fall of Troy, and the contest between Athena and Poseidon. Official Summary Athena has always been above average. She's never quite fit in at Triton Junior High, but who would've guessed that Athena is actually a goddess? Principal Zeus's daughter, to be exact. When she's summoned to Mount Olympus Academy, Athena thinks she might actually fit in for the first time in her life. But in some ways, school on Mount Olympus is not that different from down on Earth, and Athena is going to have to deal with the baddest mean girl in history - Medusa! Plot Athena lived with her best friend Pallas and her parents since she was a baby. She always "yearned to know who her parents were". One morning a magical piece of papyrus flies through her bedroom window, informing her that she is the daughter of Zeus, making her a goddess. She spends the rest of the day packing with Pallas, one suitcase carrying all her textscrolls and invention ideas. When the morning arrives, Hermes arrives with a chariot, dropping Athena off at Mount Olympus Academy. Being parched, Athena drinks from the "water fountain", which is actually nectar, and her skin shimmers gold due to her godly status. Athena goes to the office, meeting the "Nine-Headed Lady", Ms. Hydra. Athena chooses Hero-ology, Spell-ology, Revenge-ology, Beast-ology, and Beautyology. She wants to learn as much as she can, and is in a rush for her class. Three girls in the courtyard catch her attention, which later turn out to be the Goddess Girls, the most popular goddesses of the school. Pandora is the first student to talk to Athena, who asks a lot of questions. She later turn out to be Athena's roommate. Aphrodite and Athena meet during this time, both having Hero-ology together in room 208. Mr. Cyclops teaches Hero-ology, and the students' assignment is to choose a hero and guide them. They are scored on manipulation, disasters, and quick saves. During the middle of the class, Athena is called down to the office by her father, Principal Zeus. Medusa, who appears to hate Athena, calls her a "Principal's pet". Feeling embarrassed, moreso that people are staring at her, Athena accidentally trips over her bag and her wooden toy horse, Woody, tumbles out. The toy however is used later on in the book, holding significance. When first meeting her father, Zeus looks intimidating with his height of nearly seven feet tall, bulging muscles, and piercing blue eyes. Athena also discovers that her mother is a fly. Pheme, the goddessgirl of gossip, eavesdrops on the conversation and reveals what she heard to her group of friends, which includes Medusa. When lunchtime arrives, Athena finds out about the invention fair, which she considers entering. Poseidon - the godboy who acts like a flirt - makes an offers to "let her" be his assistant. Athena is miffed by this, rejecting him. She then walks away and spots Aphrodite and the other two goddessgirls from earlier. Aphrodite suggests joining the Goddessgirl Squad which cheer on the Fightin' Titans, Mount Olympus Academy's sports team. Aphrodite introduces the other two girls as Persephone and Artemis, and later all four become best friends. After school, Athena goes to her dorm room and meets Pandora. As she looks at her sketches of inventions, Pandora asks many questions. A moment later her inventions begin raining down on earth, due to her not blocking her brainstorming. Feeling dejected about her first day, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Pandora comfort her. During her first period the next day, Athena guides her hero, Odysseus. The class turns out to be on half - one side Trojan, and the other Greek. Medusa's hero, King Menelaus, is Odysseus' boss. Athena is on the opposing team of Aphrodite and Poseidon. Later in the class, it turns out that Medusa has a crush on Poseidon, which explains the immediate dislike for Athena. Poseidon's side try to keep the Greek side from getting into Troy. Thinking of an idea, Athena puts some of the heroes in her toy horse, Woody, and sends it as a "gift". Poseidon accepts it, unaware of the trick. After school at the Goddessgirl Tryouts, Coach Nike and her assistants, which are the Nine Muses, split the girls into clusters for the final squad tryouts. Athena attempts to mediate her relationship with Medusa. However, Medusa and her sisters tease Athena with a "fly cheer", to which Aphrodite, Artemis, and Persephone intervene and stick up for her. After tryouts, a student catches their attention about their heroes in Hero-ology class, who are fighting without them. As several including the Goddess Girls head into Mr. Cyclops's room, they discover the horse and its secret compartment. The next morning one of Athena's inventions is missing. Snarkypoo, or Snakeypoo, as she misspelled it, is supposed to turn any snarky words they think of to stone before they can be spoken. Medusa was ironically the inspiration for the invention, which foreshadows the events that transpire later on. When heading to her first class with Aphrodite and Artemis, they notice a new girl marble statue who looks familiar. Medusa turns out to be absent from Hero-ology, and automatically they put the pieces together that it coincides with the statue. The shampoo Snakeypoo turned Medusa's hair into snakes, as well as the ability to turn any mortal to stone. Medusa turns Artemis' three dogs to stone. Athena tricks her by Poseidon telling Medusa she has something in her teeth. Offering a mirror, Medusa takes it from Athena and turns herself into stone by reflection. After reversing the spell of Pandora and the three dogs, they leave Medusa as a statue until the next day of the Invention Fair. When the Fair arrives, Athena does not enter, thinking that Poseidon's invention, the water park, is better than hers. Despite this, Athena wins first place, with her invention of the olive. When her inventions rained down on Earth, the mortals used olive as an ingredient, as well as for oil and perfumes. Poseidon wins second place, and upon being asked what they want, Poseidon proposes a list: a chewing gum named after his trident, be appointed as Earth's official water park designer, and statues of him placed in water fountains. Athena wishes for her mortal friend Pallas to visit. Pallas appears in her PJs, evidently just asleep, and is introduced to Athena's friends. When Pallas asks Athena if she was happy and fit in, Athena assures that she was and did. Trivia In Greek Myths... * Athena and Pallas (daughter of Triton) were raised together after Athena sprung from Zeus’ forehead. One day in a friendly mock battle, Pallas had the upper hand. Afraid his daughter would lose, Zeus used Aegis as a distraction (an item that Pallas had previously shown great interest in), causing Athena to accidentally impale Pallas. * Nectar is a divine drink that the Olympian gods had. It had the ability to grant immortality on any lucky mortal who could drink it. * Helen was married to King Menelaus but abducted by Prince Paris of Troy. The Trojan horse, the idea by Odysseus (according to Quintus Symrnaeus) was used by Greeks to enter the city of Troy, and win the war. The war ended with the destruction of the city. * Athena turned Medusa's hair into serpents due to the maiden being in her temple, seduced by Poseidon. * For control of Athens, a contest between Athena and Poseidon took place on the Acropolis. Poseidon, in one tale, produced a salt spring or a horse. Athena created a olive tree, which was deemed better. In a version of the myths, Poseidon was not pleased and made a curse in Athens that there would never be enough water."The Contest of Poseidon and Athena". greek-gods.info. References Category:Books Category:Goddess Girls books